Performance of Existing Buildings: Results of Benchmark Structure Analyses Performed in U.S.-Japan Workshops

In response to the need for better understanding of current safety evaluation methodologies, three U. S. -Japan workshops have been conducted on the evaluation of the performance of existing buildings for resistance to earthquakes. The first workshop, held in Japan, treated five theme areas: Overview of evaluation of buildings for seismic resistance, Practical methodology, Computer programming, Evaluation of structural performance through full scale tests, and Post-earthquake evaluations. The second workshop was held in the U. S. on Safety evaluation methods, Evaluation methods applied to benchmark structures, and Damage and analysis of other structures. The third workshop was held in Japan and concentrated on additional comparisons of evaluations of benchmark structures and on updating recent work in methodology.